Question: I have two one-year old male cats Sergeant and Figaro. Sergeant had been waking me up every night …due to his noisy midnight explorations. Sergeant’s latest discovery has been the spiral door stopper which makes a lovely Boinng sound. I have had to remove all of them in my apartment. I have tried keeping them up all day by playing games with toys, hoping they will sleep through the night. However, that is impossible when I have to be away in the daytime and it is time consuming. I now close them both in the bathroom where the litter

          Narnia Laura Monaco Torello’s ridgeback puppy is having a great time during the handling lab. This weekend featured another successful workshop and low stress handling lab in Chicago at Narnia Pet, a fantastic positive-reinforcement based dog-training facility. While I have held most of these labs for veterinarians and their staff, most of the attendees at this lab were dog trainers, groomers, doggie daycare providers, as well as some veterinary hospital staff. With 9 little dogs and 8 large dogs participating, each team of three to four humans got plenty of practice while keeping the dogs

Presidential Pup’s Trainer Has the Right Idea Back in the Spring of 2009, I remember clearly the drama preceding the announcement of what lucky dog would be appointed to join the Obama family in the White House.  As a dog-loving resident of the DC area, I too was caught up in the excitement swirling around the kind of dog they would get—puppy, adult, purebred, mixed breed, or rescue pup.  But as the president of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, I was much more interested in the kind of training the Obamas would seek for the newest member of their

Question: Our ten-month-old Cockapoo is adorable; however, he has a problem. Whenever he gets excited, especially when my grown children and grandchildren come over, he pees on them and on the floor. We try very hard to give him lots of attention and everyone greets him on arrival, but the peeing is quite extensive. It also occurs when I bring him to their homes. As soon as we walk in, he leaves a trail of urine. Are there some measures I can take to avoid the embarrassment and damage to the floors, shoes and pants? —BL in Napa Answer: Never

Reader Question: We have two male Shih Tzus. One is 5 years (Kili), the other 4 years (Buddy).  Buddy will pee in the house even if we have just witnessed him peeing outside.  He appears to do it because he’s mad or lazy.  Every carpet in my house has been ruined and some of the antiques, also which he has peed on.  He is very sneaky about doing it within minutes after we’ve left a room.  He has access to the outdoors at all times through a doggy door.  I am at my wits end and ready to send him

Question: I’ve taken in a stray cat that’s about one year old and has been spayed. She’s very affectionate; however, sometimes when I pet her she either bites or scratches me. How can I stop her from doing this? Answer: Have you heard the joke about the patient who visits the doctor? The patient comes in and asks, “Hey Doc. My arm hurts when I lift it like this. What should I do?” The doctor replies, “Don’t do that.” Sounds silly, but the same advice goes here. If your cat bites and scratches when you pet her, don’t pet her.